Oak Hill Academy Students Build a Boat

The Oak Hill Academy 7th and 8th grade class was presented with a unique opportunity for this 2013 - 2014 school year.  Lead by Mr. Matt Goldfarb, these students were allowed to participate in an extracurricular project where they would build a boat from scratch.  This experience was offered by an organization called Project U.S.E.  Ms. Lisa Ludwig was the project coordinator who worked with the Oak Hill students to help facilitate the building of the boat.  The students met after school on Fridays for an hour and a half to work on this project.  Throughout the course of this experience students learned how to work collaboratively by developing effective communication, teamwork, and woodworking skills.

The students started off by completing a series of ice breaker activities to create a strong foundation based on teamwork, respect, and having fun.  After the boat building team reviewed safety protocols for the power tools and different parts of the boat they were ready to begin construction.  Each and every student played an important role in measuring, drilling, cutting, gluing, planing, designing, and painting the boat.  After four months of hard work the boat was ready to make its maiden voyage.  The students decided to name the boat “Semper Navigat”, meaning, “always sailing” in Latin.  Semper Navigat had a dragon themed design that included a teal base with royal blue scales.  All of the students took turns paddling their boat at Deal Lake on May 10, 2014.  It was a great day to see all of the 7th and 8th graders commitment and dedication come together.  

Congratulations to Mr. Goldfarb and his crew!